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TheDevDuck: Windows App Studio – The journey gets started

I always have been interested in developing of apps, programs etc. but I really just got started three months ago with the development of our TheWinDuck app. Coding makes a lot of fun and now I want to share some of my knowledge with people who are interested in developing for the Windows Platform as well but do not know how to start.

In this first part of this new series ‘TheDevDuck’ I want to talk about one of the easiest and fastest ways of creating Windows apps – with Windows App Studio.

Windows App Studio allows everybody to create apps for Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile without writing one single line of code. This means, that it is a perfect beginning for everyone interested in app developing. Furthermore, for using it, you basically do not need anything – just a good idea for your app and a Microsoft account (if you plan to publish your app to the Windows Store, you need a Developer account).

When you start a new project, you will be asked to choose which template you want to use for your app. Luckily, all templates you can choose from have a litte preview where you can see how everything could look like on both PC, tablet and phone.

I will use the ‘Empty Pivot App’ as my example for this article but you can also choose one of the other ones.

After you have decided on one template, it is time to think of a good name for your application. I will create an app about the city Berlin so I just name the app ‘Berlin’.

In the next step, you have to add content to your app. My app does not have any content but this can be changed easily. As you can see on the picture above you can choose from a couple of sections you want to add to your app. It ranges from social media platforms like Twitter or Instagram to WordPress Blogs and collections with static or dynamic content. Just try it out and see what fits best to your app.

Note: For some content like Youtube or Twitter integration, you need to create so called APIs. Therefore just follow the instructions of App Studio.

Design Time

Just content does not make a great app. It also needs a cool, interesting or special design. We will create this now but before we start, you should keep some things in mind: Design should always make sense and the content must be in the foreground. The design should not distract from it.

To open the design section just press on ‘Themes’ which can be found next to the content section. Don’t forget to save your work on the content!

Windows App Studio lets you choose from a couple of themes. Furthermore every theme can be edited. As you can see on the screenshot above, you can set an image as your app background or use a color instead, change the font color, etc.. Just try it out and see which theme is the best for your app.

After you designed your app, you should think of a good logo for your app. To set your app logo just klick on the Sample Logo next to the name of your app.

Try to use a logo with a high resolution so that it looks good on all devices.

Note: If plan to publish your app to the store remember that some pictures especially logos of companies or products are protected by trademark law and should not be used.

Bring your app to life

Your app is almost done! Just a few things are still missing. Therefore go to the Settings section and add an app description to your app. Furthermore you can now decide whether you want to include an About Page in your app and enable search.

You do not need to complete the Store Association, the Privacy Statement and Application Insights if you will not publish it to the Store.

Let’s finish

Now it is time to see what the result of the work. Save it and then click on ‘Finish’. You can see your result in the preview on phones, tablets and PCs. If you are satisfied then press on ‘Generate’ and select ‘Installable packages’. In order to bring your app to the Store also select ‘Publish packages’.

If you want to change the build version or add comments to generation you now also have the possibility. After you clicked on ‘Generate’ you should see the following:

We want to install the app now which is quite easy. Just download the Windows App Studio Installer from the Windows Store and then click on the left button under ‘Get Installable Package’. This should open the Windows App Studio Installer directly and allow you to install your app.

Congrats! You just created your first Windows App!

I hope that I was able to answer all questions concerning Windows App Studio with this tutorial. Nevertheless, if you still have any, do not hesitate asking me. You can do this on both Twitter (@Valentin_win10) or in the comments.

It would be really exciting to see some of your results so it would be great if you could send me screenshots on Twitter or per Mail.

TheDevDuck: Windows App Studio – The journey gets started was last modified: May 29th, 2016 by Valentin